Improved railway-hail splice



f ranura sans @wat @time W.' S. SHOE MAKER, OEr TOWSONTOWaMARYLAND, ANDH; SHOE- MAKER, 'OE LANCASTER, OHIO.

Letters Patent No. 91,87 7, dated Junef29, 1869.

IMPROVE!) RAILWAYRAIL SPLICB.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, W; S. SHOEMAKER, of Tow Vsontown, in the county ofBaltimore, and' State of Maryland,and E. H. SHOEMAKER, lof Lancaster, inthe county of Fairfield, and State oi' Ohio, have invented a new andimproved Mode of Securing Railroad Rails at their Joints; and we dohereby declare that the following is a' full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,making part of this specification, in which- Figure lmisa side view ofthe ends of two sections of rails, united by ourimproved fastening.

Figure 2 is aV section through iig. 1, taken in the horizontal planeindicated by line x.

Figure is a bottom view of iig. 1. Figure 4 is an enlarged transversesection taken through 'the centre ofthe vfastening in a vertical plane.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

This invention relates to anew and improved mode of securingrailroad-rail sections together at their joints, between cross-ties,whereby the abutting ends of thesections of rails are held firmly inplace against vertical as well as lateral play. Our object is not somuch to lprevent flexure of the rail-sections at their joints, as it isto prevent the end of Vone section rising above or 'being depressedbelow the plane of the sec# tion lying next to it.

The nature of our invention consists in a cheekpiece and support, whichwill lie snugly against one side and the bottom of the rail-sections attheir joint, in combination with a splice, which will lie snugly againstthe opposite side 'of the rail-sections at their joint, and also withbolts, which are so disposed as to allow said parts to be drawn firmlyin a vertical and lateral direction in contact with the sides and bottomof the sections, and afford a rigid splicing thereof, as will behereinafter explained.'

To enable others skilled in the ait to understand our invention, -wewill describe its construction and operation.

In the accompanying drawings- A A represent portions of tworail-'sections united by our improved fastening:

B represents a splicing-bar, which is preferably made of hard,well-seasoned wood, of such size as to aii'ord the required stiii'ness,and-of such shape trans# versely as to iit snugly against the webs, theunder -side of the lips of the rails, and the upper sides of theyrail-bases, as shown clearly in fig. 4. l

The flat base of this bar B, when in place, is in the `plane of thebottom surfaces' ofthe rail-sections, so as to rest upon'crossties whichsupport the rails on both sides of the joint.

support, and an inclined lip, c, which latter is paralagainst the web ofthe rail, than it is where it supports piece O, through vthe .webs of-tl'le rail-sections, and

upon those ends protruding from the side of this bar,

,portion fi, of the cheek-piece C, will be drawn rmly 'only' serves tosustain the base 'of the cheek-piece O,

The cheek-piece' C is made .of sncient length to extend well over eachside of the joint, and it is bent or shaped so as to'atiord aside-bearing, i, a flat baselel to the4 inclined plane or bevelledsurface h, of the splice-bar B, when the parts are in place, asv shownin gs. 1 and 4.

The cheek-plate O is made thinner where it abuts the base of the rail.Two bolts a a pass horizontally through the cheekthrough the woodensplice-barB, and receive-nuts af,

B. By setting up these nuts a', the bar B and their against the websot'the rail-sections.

Another bolt, b, is then passed up through vholes made obliquely throughlthe lip o and bar B, and provided with a nut, b', on its upper end. `Bysetting up this'nut, the base portion of the cheek-piece O will be drawnup tightly against the bottom of the railsections, and at the same timethe bar B will be drawn down iirmlynpon the flanged base of thesesections, so that aportion ot' the weight of the load passing over the-rails will be sustained by the bar B, through the medium of the base'ofthe cheekfpiece and the inclined bolt l. i Y

It will be seen,by reference to ig.'4, that bolt b not when mit b istightly set up, but that in the act of screwingup the nut b', bolt bwill draw the parts together vertically as well as laterally.

In the drawings we have represented but one supporting-bolt b, but, ifdesired, the lip c may be elongated, and more than one bolt maybe used.

Having described our invention,

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. lhe construction of the cheek-piece C,- in the manner substantiallyas described.

2. The manner Of securing .the splice-bar B and check-piece C to therail-sections, by means oi' transverse bolts, and .one or more obliquebolts, substantially as described.

W. S. SHOEMAKER. E. H. SHOEMAKER.

Witnesses as to E. H.' SHOEMAKER:

JOHN GARAGHTY, H. W. CARPENTER. Witnesses for W. S. SHOEMAKEE:

E. B. S. SHOEMAKER, D. G. MOINTOSH.

